They I've worked in the tech industry for a while now and with a third of venture capital flowing into Silicon Valley, it's not uncommon for my coworkers to transplant themselves from Pennsylvania to California. I lost a few friends to the Golden State in 2015 and another two close friends of mine were making the leap in 2016. It's about 2,898 mi from my current job in New Hope, PA to San Francisco, CA. But with these latest two friends going, I wanted to bridge the gap between east and west, giving them a present that wished them well, but reminded them of where they came from.

With the inspirational pushing of a few friends, I came up with the concept of showing their starting part and their ending point via photos. In the one photo, I photographed a bridge that's well known in this suburban town, the New Hope-Lambertville bridge. In the other photo, our mutual friend and very talented photographer Zach Matthai shot the iconic Golden Gate bridge then sent me the files (shameless plug: visit his awesome sitehere!). I got both his and mine printed.

Yet another mutual friend, Nicole, framed them both to match like a set. Above you're seeing my San Franciscan bound friend's reaction to the set. As a collaborative project, I think it went over well. It's funny how the internet brings most people together... unless you work in the industry and reside on the east coast!

The best of luck to my friends who moved and all that were involved!

Up close version of the photos:

Zach Matthai's picture of the Golden Gate Bridge

Photo of the New Hope-Lambertville bridge between PA and NJ by Yours Truly

It may be a fitting stereotype for an artist, but I love ♥ museums. The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA is underrated as a destination museum. It's held tons of art, historical, and entertainment based exhibits throughout the years. They are often both aesthetically pleasing and interactive. It's a place for all ages to learn under the guise of playing. I attend at least one or two exhibits a year and the currently running Jurassic World: The Exhibition is up there on my list of favs. (Pixar's exhibit and Body World are on the short list too.)

Jurassic World's setup is much like it is in the movie. You are treated as a visitor in the dinosaur park. The process starts in a small room (to help subtly limit the size of groups touring the "park"). There's a video by your "guide" and you're given the background story of how the park came to be. It's a nice recap if you've seen the Jurassic movies or if you're a newcomer.

After the intro class, you are released into Jurassic World! You're greeted almost immediately by an oversized animatronic dinosaur about 30 feet high. He dives his nose toward the crowd. The details and the colors of the dinosaur itself as well as the lighting, sound effects, and surrounding vegetation, all contribute to making this animal come to life. This is just the beginning of the adventure!

Smoke machines adding to the allure, you'll be steered around twists and turns, meet friendly dinosaurs that dance in cages, take a close up look of newborn dino hatchlings, and maybe even get attacked by a giant T-Rex! You are transcended beyond the concrete walls of a museum and immersed in an "outdoor" thrill, learning and playing with the blurry line between the scientific history of the world and the interpreted history from the makers of the film.

I would highly recommend this for individuals, couples, and families. The museum has about a dozen permanent exhibits and is appropriate for all playful minds. You can read more about the Jurassic World: The Exhibition here. Or, if you're looking for more information on all of the running exhibitions, just go here.

I'd first like to say I loved my 2006 Cobalt, but it was well weathered after 12 years (bought it in 2005). I joked with my dad to buy me a new, cute, pink car. It just so happened he was cleaning the basement and re-gifted me my childhood Barbie's sports car. "Does this count?," he laughed. Unfortunately, it's not street legal.

So when Volkswagen announced their limited edition #pinkBeetle in June 2016, my Dad, of course, sent me a link. I've never been a VW girl myself, especially growing up in a house where everything was Chevy, however, this pink car caught my eye. The car actually changes colors based on lighting -- raspberry pink in direct sun, reddish fuchsia in shade, and a purply magenta Lorde lipstick at night. (I should've named crayons for a living.) Really, the #pinkBeetle would catch anyone's eye.

And yes, it's the first car to ever have a hashtag in its name. It really is a hipster little car.

I test drove the convertible at first, but I didn't fall in love. Whipping my hair around at 25 mph on the test drive hurt! Unlike my hair, that wasn't going to let that fly.

I ended up with the hardtop (they didn't make a sunroof version, unfortunately). Love at first drive. I named her Lane. After "Penny Lane" because she is a Beetle and because she's a car. Both funny things. These are funny things I'm typing. ​The newer Beetles are a lot roomier than in times past and this particular model is tricked out with modern design elements and tech goodies. Xenon headlights, backup camera, push start, keyless entry, Carplay, Bluetooth, pink plaid seats, mostly black dashboard but with pink accent trim, and even the thread in the black floor mats was pink. It's extremely well put together.

Pink plaid cloth seats!

Pink accent on the steering wheel

Pink stitches in the floor mats.

Things I would change about my car? Automatic headlights. Even my Cobalt had them, but Beetles do not. Also, I'd like a remote start; to heat my car before I get there would be hot (pun).

I must say people tailgate my puuurty bumper a lot and when I get out of my car, I get a lot of questions and looks. Men talk about her. Women openly admit loving her. Great conversation starter. It's like walking around with a puppy. Only cuter.

I give my car a 4.75 stars out of 5. Since there are no quarter stars, totally rounds up to 5!

Things my car loves:

Baths

Rolling around with me and my cohorts

Spotify

Compliments

Getting dusted on her shiny, shiny dashboard

Things my car hates:

Potholes

Bumper stickers

Running around town without letting the engine warm up

Those big eyelashes people put on their bugs. Just no. No magnetic dots either. She's classy.

I'll totally show off my car to you if you're in my area. I may even let you sit in its lumbar supporting heated seats. She gives the best hugs like that. And if you can't make it to my neck of the woods, you should still test drive one of Lane's 2017 Beetle cousins at your local dealer!

Stop digital and snail mail spam. It's a waste of time, energy, paper, and ink.

The third item is what brings us here today. I started by saving my mail for a week. Yes, all the spam and spam that still made it to my inbox as well as all of the snail mail spam (flyers, coupons, circulars, credit card apps, and miscellaneous junk), I let them all pile up so I could get a good gauge on who's on my naughty list. Then, I made broad strokes to prevent junk mail in general as well as unsubscribed from specific companies offending my mailbox.

Here's what I did.

This is for phone "spam". The infamous Do Not Call List (which isn't nearly as great as it used to be) is still in effect for some telemarketers. Add yourself to the Do Not Call List

Here you can opt out of certain kinds of junk mail digitally for 5 years or you can mail them in a request and you can opt out forever.Opt-out Prescreen

Opt out of specific snail mail subscriptions you may or may not know you are subscribed to: Catalog Choice

​Comcast (including Xfinity) Do Not Call List can stop snail mail junk especially the plastic mail nonsense (just... why?) as well as phone calls and door knocking:Comcast Do Not Call List

SiriusXM bombards through phone and mail. Use this number to call them and tell them to cut it out. DO NOT give them your credit card info if you haven't already!: 1-866-303-5603

That was a lot, I know, I know. It took me about an hour and a half to go through all of these. Then, I go through my email's spam folder and unsubscribe from a few every day. If you have anymore sites or ideas, I'm all ears!

If nothing else works, you can report harassment of these sorts to the government here.

My theme for my resolutions is to waste less and take care of what I do have and to be more eco-friendly -- ecosystem and economics. What are your resolutions?

My latest logo and identity redesign was for the Sixers Beat podcast. The Sixers Beat is the foremost podcast for Philly's 76ers basketball team.

With a name change from 76ers Beat to Sixers Beat, I designed a cleaner, more modern logo for them. Also, now there's more of a differentiation between them and the actual 76ers -- after all, they don't actually work directly for the team (which is awesome for fans who want an unbiased opinion!).

I hope their fans enjoy the new look that should be released on their site soon! You can check out their podcast here: ​http://www.sixersbeat.com/

And for you design fanatics in the audience, here's their style guide as well.

I've tried a lot of techniques to restore old photos. I've learned there's no foolproof way to bring back the former glory of the original photo. In my opinion, it's actually one of the hardest things to do with Photoshop.

My best advice for anyone attempting to do this is airbrush as little as possible as it just makes everything look blurry and takes on that overly "shopped" look used in magazines.

Instead, take some tutorials on the channels palette, know your curves and levels, and work primarily with adjustment layers on the whole image as well masking specific areas in need of some TLC.

Also, for the worn areas of the photo where it may have been bent, scratched, or dirty, try to avoid the whole Filter>Noise>Dust & Scratches. Even with Adobe CC 2015's great improvements to this feature, it's often overused and can cause a blurred effect (unless that's what you're going for). Instead try the Spot Healing tool and dodge and burn for destroyed portions of the texture of the photo itself.

For the past three years I've hosted a 30 Day Photo Challenge on Instagram during the whole month of September. This year we saw over 343 photos! It was a great success from photographers and iphoneographers on varying experience levels from hobbyist to professional.

I really can't say enough about the talent and creativity that these folks put into each photo's daily theme. It's also great practice and a good stretching exercise to try new angles and techniques, subjects and moods that you wouldn't normally shoot. My favorite part though is seeing everyone else's photos. It's always impressive to see how each person can interpret the theme of the day so differently.

Below are just a few of my shots from last month. If you want to check out all the entries from everyone, just go to the #30dayphoto2016 hashtag on Instagram or click here.